Boyertown School Board may move to remove member for missing meetings

BOYERTOWN — The Boyertown Area School Board has asked its solicitor to reach out to board member Kenneth Parsons Jr, with a “last call” letter, after Parsons had missed six consecutive board meetings without an explanation.

If Parsons does not respond to the letter from Solicitor Jeffrey Sultanik by the board’s Dec. 12 meeting, the board will move to have Parsons removed from the nine-member body.

Parsons, who last attended a meeting on July 17, represents Region 1 of the school district, which consists of the boroughs of Bally and Bechtelsville, and the townships of Colebrookdale, Earl and Washington. His four-year term runs through 2015.

Board Vice President Barbara Hartford brought the problem of Parson’s unexcused absences to the attention of the board on Tuesday and suggested a motion be made to have Sultanik begin the process of replacing Parsons on the board.

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Board member Ruth Dierolf requested the district reach out to Parsons with a letter from Sultanik before steps are taken to remove him.

Board member John Crossley, who also represents Region 1, concurred with Dierolf. “Give (Parsons) an opportunity to reply and give him an opportunity to resign if he is not able to fulfill his obligations.”

The consensus of the board is that directing a letter to Parsons would be a more respectful way to go about finding out what is going on, and could lead to a quicker, easier solution to the matter besides going through the legal process of removing an elected member from school board.

The district would have to petition the Berks County Court of Common Pleas to remove Parsons from the board.

“I just can’t imagine people from Region III if I didn’t show up, they’d be here (at the meetings),” said board member Ronald Christman, who represents Boyertown, Douglass (Berks) Township, and a portion of Douglass (Mont.) Township. “They’d be saying what is it with this person we elected. So I’m really surprised we haven’t heard from anyone from Region 1 to say ‘where is my representative.’”

The board also unanimously passed the district’s Comprehensive Plan, which was formerly known as the Strategic Plan, for the years 2012-2015. This plan addresses the district’s future goals to move toward a more personalized approach to learning tailored to meet each students needs, as well as embedding into the curriculum the teaching and application of what the district considers to be 21st century skills and making the curriculum more college and career focused.

A vote was also made to formally approve the retirement, effective Jan. 22, 2013, of Jane Prutzman, Boyertown Area Senior High School business education teacher, who has been teaching for over 32 years.